re: #371 Dr Lizardo

It’s the ol’ “having your cake and eating it too” BS approach the Brexiteers have been insisting on from the beginning. No matter how many times the EU says “No” the Brexiteers keep repeating that mantra.

When reality finally whups them upside the head, they’re gonna be in for a shock.

May’s speech was still cake-and-eat-it, while handwaving away what the hell a “customs union but not THAT customs union” is supposed to mean in practice.

Northern Ireland is the problem that they won’t be able to avoid. The UK is committed to no hard border between Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. AND, the UK is committed to the common UK market, that is, between NI and the rest of the UK. So, there’s no border between the EU and NI, and there’s no border between NI and rest of UK. BUT, the UK is leaving the EU customs union somehow. Okay.

And the EU has said over and over again that it’s not interested in some sort of blob glommed on to the EU common market where goods from who-knows-where can mysteriously come and go according to the UK’s whims. Besides, this whole arrangement is supposed to be stood up, implemented, staffed, and operational in a little more than a year.

The UK is going to be very obviously staring into the abyss in a few months, and the only way out I can see is a “temporary” Norway-like arrangement where nothing essentially changes except the UK can’t vote on anything and gets kicked out of EU agencies. Then, everyone has to wait for someone in the UK to force the country back to its senses and go back in, minus a bunch of special privileges.